DEVINDER SINGH Vs. SATE OF H P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal is directed against the order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sirmur and Solan Districts camp at Solan, dated September 30, 1985, whereby the appellant Devinder Singh hereinafter referred to as the accused, was convicted for the offence under section 323 IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- and in default to undergo further simple imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The facts of this case are that the accused belongs to village Kaunta Parla while one Smt. Durgi deceased belonged to Kaunta Verla within the jurisdiction of police station Kasauli, district Solan. Some time prior to December 10, 1984, one Multan Singh of Kaunta Parla had taken away his wife for medical treatment and had left Smt. Durgi for preparing meals for his children and also to look after the house-hold affairs in their absence. On December 10, 1984, when Smt. Durgi was sitting near a public water tap alongwith other ladies near the house of Multan Singh, the accused came there and gave severe beating to said Durgi as a result of which she became unconscious and later on died. The accused was then tied with ropes and kept in his house tied to a charpai and the matter was reported to the police as a result of which a case under section 302 IPC was registered. The police came on the spot, placed the accused under arrest and also sent the dead body of Smt. Durgi for postmortem examination when it was found that she had died due to shock and haemorrhage arid fracture of the skull bone. The police also came to know during the investigation that some years prior to the incident Smt. Durgi Devinder Singh Vs. The State of H.P. IMPORTANT POINT It is not the law tha t every person m enta Ily diseased is ipso facto exempted from the criminal responsibility. was also working in the house of the accused at the behest of his father after the death of mother of the accused and the accused was labouring under suspicion in his mind that said Durgi was sorceress and it was on account of her sorcery that not only his mother died but he himself was also suffering from the ailment of epilepsy fits and he thus intended to cause the death of said Smt. Durgi. After investigation the accused was challaned under section 302 IPC. The learned Additional Sessions Judge after full trial of the case, however, vide the impugned judgment came to the conclusion that although no case under section 302 IPC was established against the accused but there was sufficient evidence to hold him guilty under section 323 of the Indian Penal Code and he accordingly convicted and sentenced him for the aforesaid offence, as stated earlier.

(3.) The learned counsel for the accused at the time of arguments in this Court has mainly laid his stress on one point, that is, that since the accused was a patient of epilepsy for the last 12 years prior to the incident which caused him temporary insanity it was in a fit of insanity on account of the said ailment that the accused committed the offence in question and his case, therefore, was covered by the provisions of section 84 of the Indian Penal Code and he was, therefore, entitled to acquittal.